In common English, “berry” is a term used to refer to any small edible fruit. The berries are juicy, round, bright red colored, sweet fruit. In botanical terms a berry is a fleshy fruit grown out of a single ovary, such as, a grape. Its seeds are normally nailed in the oval flesh.

True berries

A lot of small fruit is commonly associated with the title “berries”, but there is only one fruit, the blueberry, which is considered the “true” berry by botanical definitions. Not qualifying the definition of a “True Berry”, blackberries are considered aggregate fruit composed of drupelets. Similarly, a strawberry is an aggregate accessory fruit.

In botanical terms, typically a berry is a simple fruit with seeds and pulp developed out of a single ovary; the ovary can, however, vary in taste.

Following are examples of true berries:

Grape, Vitis vinifera

Honeysuckle: some berries are edible and are called honeyberries, certain other are poisonous as well, such as, Caprifoliaceae.

Sea Grape

Watermelon

Strawberry Tree (not to be confused with actual strawberry)

Tomato including other species of the family Solanaceae

Banana

Botanical berry:

As per botanical rules of nomenclature, a number of fruits, referred to as “berries” in common practice are actually not. They may be categorized as Compound or Accessory fruits in most of the cases.

What are Accessory fruits?

“Accessory” fruits are those fruits in which ovaries do not happen to produce the edible part of the fruit, also technically termed as berry-LIKE fruits. A well-known example of the Accessory fruit is the strawberry. In it the conglomeration of seeds, called ACHENES is the real fruit. This achenes actually develops out of an aggregate (collection) of ovaries, while the flesh of strawberry is the outcome of RECEPTACLE, the thickened part of a stem from which the flower organs grow.

The strawberry, however, is not considered by botanists as “true berry”. Examples of true berries are cranberries and blueberries that have internal seeds. A strawberry has its yellow, dry seeds over the exterior. Each one of its seeds is identified as a separate fruit.

The strawberry is a tiny member of the Rose family. All varieties of the plant fall under the Fragariagenus category. ‘Strawberries are not actually fruit or berries even; they are the outgrowth of the stamen, male part of the plant.’ Botanically it is the granulated black spots that typify fruit in it.

In the West strawberry has been cultivated as one of the most important fruits. In recent times the growth of strawberry is rampant throughout the North America both as a wild as well as cultivated plant.